Gentle C Section

[pringles24]

Hey friends! I love this sub and have learned so much from you, I thought this might be a great place to gather insight and encouragement before the birth of our second child in August.

I’ll be having my first ever c section this fall. My doctor is on board for what I’ve learned is referred to as a “gentle” c section, with immediate skin to skin, delayed cord clamping, and a clear drape or mirror so I can watch our baby come into the world.

With that said, I’m a bit on edge after our 2021 delivery (my preference would have been a home birth with a midwife, but I risked out of midwifery care and had a hospital delivery with so many unnecessary interventions which resulted in a 4th degree tear and incredibly challenging physical recovery). Im totally on board with a c section but really, really want to make sure my preferences are understood and followed as long as it’s safe for the medical team to do so.

The thing is, I’m just not sure what my preferences might be, other than “please don’t separate me and baby, and please don’t let me turn into one of those c section horror stories.”

Has anyone here had a “gentle” c section and would be willing to share the details or even a list of birth preferences they shared with their medical team? Likewise, any c section parents who, looking back on their delivery, know what they’d advocate for if they could do it all over again?

Hoping to strike a balance between a calm, connected birth for our baby and listening to the advice of our wonderful doctor who knows a lot more about these things than I do; a moderately granola delivery, if you will!

 

[livegood]

@pringles24 I had a planned c-section and asked both my OB and MFM about having a “gentle” c-section. They both replied with the same exact answer. There is no such thing as a gentle c-section and it’s major surgery. The health and safety of myself and baby were top priority. With that said, I explained toy OB the components of the “gentle” C-section that I wanted, immediate skin to skin being the big one. She was very on board and said that it was routine and her goal for all planned, low risk c-sections. She told me that as soon as she knew she could maintain a sterile surgical field, I would have baby on my chest. In the mean time, she recommended that my husband do the skin to skin.

While I am jealous of my husband getting those first few early moments while my OB was working on getting me put back together. I was able to watch my husband hold our little girl and just ooh and aww over her. Going back through the time stamps on photos, she was in my arms 15 minutes after birth, which seems like an eternity in theory, but there was a lot going on in the moment. (Note, I also had a slight, non-life threatening complication.)

With all that said, we did realize that in terms of having a gentle C-section, the nurse 100% matters. I had a very old school nurse who was retiring that week and in pre-op when explaining to her our preference for immediate skin to skin we had to be very insistent and use the phrase “my OB said this is what we would do”. Even still, in the operating room, my husband had to be a vocal advocate.

 

[pringles24]

@livegood I hadn’t realized my husband could be a backup option for skin to skin in the OR until seeing some of the helpful comments on this thread; excited at that possibility (and tbh it makes sense that this might be the best move, as I have no idea how I’ll feel while having my internal organs reassembled).

 

[branannabanana]

@pringles24 Another thing to consider is that some drs might not be comfortable with immediate skin to skin alongside delayed clamping. My Dr wouldn’t let us do skin to skin until it was cut bc it would compromise the sterile field. You’re sitting there open the whole time. We made it to like 4 min 30 seconds of delayed clamping before I just needed her to start stitching me up, and then as soon as the cord was cut, she was able to pass over the baby.

 

[kingdomkings]

@branannabanana Incredibly good point - it’s an infection-management protocol too.